Setswana Proverbs is a short fulldome film I made in collaboration with South African artist King Debs. It was selected to screen in the Under the Dome experimental film festival at the Iziko Planetarium in Cape Town in 2019. The Iziko Planetarium is the most advanced digital planetarium on the African continent and this festival was the first of its kind in South Africa, exploring new venues to distribute immersive content to large audiences.
From the Center for Curating the Archive:
Born out of the creators’ shared interests in technology, storytelling, and cultural expression. Grava works behind the lens, documenting the pensive movements of King Debs as he paints his cryptic calligraphy in an abandoned warehouse in an undisclosed Cape Town location. King Debs’ self-developed calligraphy expresses traditional proverbs from various Bantu and Nguni languages of South Africa. By painting traditionally oral proverbs, King Debs archives and expresses indigenous knowledge that may otherwise be lost or forgotten. In doing so, he provides his own means to bring tradition into the modern era. By documenting this with 360 degree cameras and screening the content in immersive viewing spaces, the creators combine tradition and cutting-edge technology to (re)present indigenous knowledge in new ways.
The film also screened at the 2022 Dome Fest West in Costa Mesa, California.